Compromised
by bluehyperpixie
Summary: "CHERUB has been compromised. All agents return to campus. Tomorrow all under age recruits will be taken into care." Someones been asking the wrong questions. Before CHERUB is ripped apart James must find that person and sort them out. Permenantly.
1. Chapter 1

**Just a random idea I had...**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own CHERUB**

Conner's face was ashen and his eyes sparkled feverishly. Even his breathing seemed laboured. James stared at him for several seconds before voicing his thoughts, "What the hell's wrong with you? Someone chopped off your dick?" Though James' words were course and flippant, his friends face worried him.

"Conner," Lauren's hand brushed her boyfriends. That was something James was still getting used to, "What's happened?"

He was so quiet that they were considering repeating the question when he finally answered. "CHERUB's been compromised."

James got it before Lauren did. "Oh shit." Images of care homes flashed in his mind.

"But Zara and the politicians will sort it out, right?" Lauren's face was anxious.

"By compromised that there are rumours on the ground," as Lauren opened her mouth to argue James continued over her, "rumours that people are starting to believe. The evidence is all there, it's just that no one's bothered to look. If someone dug deep enough, asked the right questions... we can't tamper with people's memories." His little sister's face dropped and her eyes widened.

"What's going to happen to us?" James asked Conner who seemed to know so much.

The boy shrugged, "Who knows, anything..." he looked horrified.

"How do you know all that?" James suddenly realised that Rat had been standing behind them.

"I found out on my latest mission. Someone's put feelers out. Asking about kids who've appeared and then gone after a load of shit." Conner shuddered. "we are so dead. Anyway I told my mission Chloe, my mission supervisor, who told Zara. Apparently everyone who can is being called of missions and onto campus. Tomorrow evening they'll call a conference to let us know what's going to happen to us." Conner pushed his food away and sighed shakily.

"After getting away from the survivors they're gonna throw me into a care home," Rat moaned close to tears before walking to another table.

"Oi Rat," Conner suddenly shouted at the retreating boy, "Don't tell anyone." His sudden animation died quickly.

"What do we do,' James couldn't stand just sitting. He was desperate to be doing something. James was so used to sorting things out for himself. But what could he do?

Connor couldn't think of anything and Lauren looked moments from crying. James pat her gently on the shoulder as he walked out of the food hall. What else was he meant to do? His life was on a deadline and every second was bringing it closer.

--

James was only vaguely acknowledged the vibrating floor as he turned the corner to his room. But as he opened the door to his room, there was no way he could ignore the Eminem making his walls 

pulsate. The kid next door had left for uni a fortnight ago and the room had been empty when he had left for lunch an hour ago. Apparently, someone new had moved in.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" he roared at the wall as loud as he could. In reply the music lowered enough to stop the wall shaking but he still could have sung-well rapped along with it. But he wasn't in the mood to ruin the last moments of fun for another kid before they were all sent away. Instead he flopped on his bed and tried to ignore thoughts of care homes, never seeing his friends and worst of all, no CHERUB.

**I got another CHERUB story if you wanna check it out. REVIEW**

**xxbhpxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Finally, after like a month the next chapter of compromised is ready, I'm sorry it took so long but i was flickering between so many idea that i just had to take a break from the story altogether. But I'm back now, with my darling beta sheluby94dreamer (thank you so much you are AMAZING) and I know exactly what's going to happen now-well most of it. **

**So enjoy, and a nice lengthy review would be welcome.**

**DISCLAIMER: My name is NOT Robert Muchamore, It's bluehyperpixie and don't you forget it!**

James woke to the sound of incessant banging on his door.

Eventually Lauren burst in. She saw her groggy, disorientated brother and called, "He's decent," through the doorway. The rest of his friends trooped in looking venomous.

James got up, "What," he grunted still slightly out of it.

"That bitch next door is the one who compromised CHERUB," Bruce practically snarled.

"What?" James forced himself awake.

Connor explained. "The girl who's moved in next door is the one who's been asking questions about us."

"It was a kid," James asked incredulously. They all nodded. As if on cue, the loud music blared up again. "CHERUB is going to be shut down because of some cow's curiosity?!" He instinctively tried to clamp down on the anger burning his insides. But then he decided that now was a time that anger would be a strong ally. Bursting out of his room he paused only to knock quickly on the door before throwing it open.

Rihanna's song Pon De Replay assaulted their ears immediately thereafter. After which they noticed that the wall into the next room had been removed making one giant living space. The room was obviously sectioned, each separated by folding wooden separators, however, now they were all open and letting the pink, orange light from the setting sun flood the room. One wall, the one facing the sun was completely covered with a giant mirror until the separator, which made the whole room look even bigger. In front of that mirror a slim, leggy girl laid in box splits. Her torso completely touched the laminate and though her toes resolutely pointed to the ceiling, which was a giant collage of random stuff, she didn't seem to be moving except for gentle breathing. The sight of girl's complete stillness and the pause as the music ended made James pause but as the others piled in behind him the spell broke.

"In most civilized cultures, it's considered polite to knock," she pushed herself up but not out of the splits.

Kerry screamed as the next track sorted and shook the room, "In civilized countries it's polite to not stick your nose in where it's not wanted!" Her face was a deep scarlet color and if she was a cartoon character, she would have had steam blowing out of her ears.

"And you are?" the girls nose wrinkled like there was an appalling smell looming in the room.

"I'll tell you who I am—I am going to fucking kill you!" And out of nowhere, Kerry leapt on the girl with her fists in the ready position to do some real damage to her target.

James watched, a grin plastering his face as Kerry broke the girls' nose with her first punch to the face. Once Kerry's fist made contact with the nose, the indistinguishable noise of cartilage breaking filled the room. Once the girl started bleeding and started showing signs of serious bruising, Bruce decided that the fight was too uneven and waded in.

He pulled a struggling Kerry away while James decided to hold onto the other girl just in case. Surprisingly, however, the other girl turned away and walked to a section that was a makeshift kitchen by the looks of it.

She opened the bottom half of a shiny new fridge/freezer unit and pulled out two ice packs. One she held to her broken and bruised noise and the other she threw to a bewildered and almost calmed down Kerry for her torn lip.

As she turned still in silence, though the music eased the frost feel of the room, to shut the freezer door, James noticed that her hands were clenched into tight fists and she was breathing in an exaggerated fashion. But when she turned to face the group, her face was calm and her voice bright. "You guys make yourselves at home, the hi-fi's all yours. I'll be back in a minute I just need to clean myself up." Without waiting for an answer, she turned away and walked through a door, pulling it firmly shut behind her.

Lauren was the first to break the group's intense silence. "I'm gonna change this crap." James had never noticed that the music had suddenly gone from Rihanna to Jessie McCartney. James looked away from Bruce and Kerry, who were having a heated whispered debate in the corner. Instead he looked at the energetic ceiling. Stuck to it, were a weird mixture of magazine pages, postcards from different countries, photos of places and posters of bands and manga characters. James suddenly noticed that interwoven with the other pictures were plain A4 sheets with strange designs drawn on them with black felt tip and silver metallic markers.

A phoenix caught James's eye. The flames around it weaved in and out of each other intricately and James was forced to peer at it closely to see where each bit of fire ended. In a sense it was calming but energetic, beautiful yet sharp in appearance.

"That took me a month to make. What do you think?" The voice wasn't soft, but neither was it hard and intruding. James couldn't quite but his finger on it, but there was something slightly strange about her voice.

James faced her quickly, but she wasn't looking at him, just at the picture with a slightly sad and wistful look. "Yeah, it's cool!"

But she wasn't listening, instead her head was cocked slightly like she was listening to something and James noticed the mellow sound of Winter by Bayside playing quietly. "You like Bayside?" she asked Lauren who was flicking through tracks on the MP3 player that was plugged into hi-fi.

"Yeah, they're not my favourite but they're definitely up there." She said while glancing up to make slight eye contact before continuing to scroll through the songs.

"Cool. Which track's your favourite?"

Lauren didn't hesitate, "Dear Tragedy by far. Yours?"

The girl swiftly walked over to the shelves that shared a corner with the hi-fi and flicked through a pile of CD's haphazardly strewn across one of them. "Depends on my mood. I like Dear Tragedy but I flicker between Winter, Just Enough to Love and A Long December."

"A Long December, I've never heard of it." Lauren seemed comfortable with the girl, with none of the awkwardness that other three seemed to feel.

Three? James looked around again. Where were Conner and Callum? James tried not to worry that the twins had disappeared but as the conversation flowed over the next few hours he couldn't help it.

The conversation about music became animated, as the two girls seemed to become friends as they agreed and argued about tracks and ended up sitting on the floor surrounded by CD covers. Even Bruce and begrudged Kerry joined in. But for some reason, every time the girl spoke, it grated on James and the strange note in her voice kept irritating him. James found himself on the corner of the group and the conversation as he focused intently on the girl's voice.

Eventually, hours later, the conversation died down to silence. "Wait a sec. I never even asked your name."

With a smile the girl replied, "I'm Jessica now."

This time James wasn't the only one to notice the strange way she'd spoken. It isn't her _name_ it was who she _is._ But Lauren didn't comment on it. "I'm Lauren, that's my brother James and this is Kerry and Bruce."

"We're going out," Kerry added slightly unnecessarily while pointing at Bruce.

But the grin just stayed on Jessica's face. "That's nice. But I'm gonna have to kick you guys out now, I'm exhausted."

Once, about 45 minutes later, they were actually _out of the room_ Lauren spoke what they were all thinking, "I'm glad CHERUB isn't going to end."

Kerry replied, "They might stop it anyways."

"But Jessica doesn't look like someone who'd spill snitch. Who'd believe her?" In hushed tones they said goodbye and James walked into his room.

It was as he finished getting dressed for bed and was already drifting off that he realized what was odd about Jessica's voice. It was fake. All of it, the emotions, the timbre, the volume- all of it was slightly muted as if it had been filtered before she'd spoken.

It was as James realized this, that the girl in question snuck out her window and began her own little mission.

It was as the girl snuck out, that someone knocked heavily and sharply on James door.

**I know I know, what the hell have i done added another character and created more questions without answering any? But all will be answered my dear reders, if you just REVIEW!! **

**thanks once again to sheluby94dreamer**

**xxbluehyperpixiexx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow sorry it took so long to update. I'm so pathetic I had this chap finished last week but family camne over so I couldn't updat until today. But gladly the story advances quite rapidly in this chap.** **Have fun, enjoy and LEAVE ME A REVIEW!!!**

**I just wanted to mention that **

**a-lots of poeple have this story on alert but don't review. Thank you if you do but everyone who reads this please review i'm loving ideas and thoughts they really help me.**

**b-there is a forum for any questions, thoughts or things you want to see in the on my fanfiction profile page. I usually post a preview there of new chapters. Also if i need to shoot about some ideas i use that. Thankee v. mucho!!  
**

**DISCLAIMER: let us leave it there folks.**

"Why so glum chum?" Bruce punched James playfully.

James grinned blandly, "having to look at your ugly mug." But his mood did not lighten, the grin disappeared and he continued to brood.

Lauren nudged him for the third time in as many minutes. "God James, snap out of it. What is wrong with you," she hissed quietly in his ear.

"Nothing," James murmured "...just..." he couldn't voice thoughts he didn't fully understand himself.

Lauren snapped, "that's it. We are going for a walk."

Mutely James followed her but in his head he was frantically trying to organise his thought. Shuffling and reshuffling them until he reached some sort of understandable order.

He didn't even realise that Rat was trying to get his attention until Rat had pulled James to a stop and planted all of his scrawny self in front of James.

"I _saw _you." He accused. Loudly.

James snapped to attention, "Saw me what?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to get your attention...What did you do?"

James relaxed easily, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Smirking, Rat walked with James who was walking with Lauren. "No I know you did something! Whatever, I was just wondering, is it true that CHERUB's still going to keep going?"

Lauren eyed James just as hard as Rat was. Last night James would have been certain that CHERUB was fine. But this morning he couldn't say that in good faith. "I'm not sure." He admitted.

Rat's face didn't fall. "I thought so." James shot him a quizzical look. "The notice for the conference came up on the notice board this morning."

Oh, for the first time James noticed the crowd of people hanging around the notice board. So many people knew that CHERUB was over; a few _knew_ that CHERUB wasn't. And James seemed to be the only one that knew that knew it was not as simple as that.

Talk about an MIB flashback.

Lauren told an unsurprisingly offended rat to "F- off." Sharply now, more vigorously she dragged James out of the canteen. She headed straight out doors but James didn't really care.

Lauren turned to face him sharply. "Would you f-ing tell me what happened between last night and this morning to turn you into a stuttering wreck?"

James sat down heavily onto a patch of wet grass, disgusting. "Connor and Callum came to see me last night."

"I know." Lauren wasn't surprised, "Connor told me he needed to see your Mechanics Project."

"That wasn't it." James voice was low. How to explain without revealing things he wasn't allowed to? "You know that Connor and Callum had a hard time before they came to CHERUB? Jessica was at one of the care homes that they were at. One of the longest times they were ever at a care home. They met 'Jessica' there. She used to be called Suzanna. Her and the twins became tight. Four months after they first met, Jessica locked them in a room and beat the shit out of them with a hockey stick without warning. She broke Callum's rib and cracked Conner's skull, two boys half a year older than her, heavier, taller and stronger than her. After that, she was taken somewhere else and the guys moved on. Lauren, that 'Jessica' that we met last night could have murdered two of my best mates. She's insane," in case Lauren didn't realise he added, "mental, psychotic."

Lauren's face was pale; all the blood had dropped of it. James hadn't wanted to tell her for exactly this reason. In her eyes he could see that all she could imagine right now was a younger version of her boyfriend being hurt beyond belief. "I- um- er. I've got to go." She sounded sick but James let her go, Connor could take care of her.

--

"As of tomorrow CHERUB no longer exists. Tonight every agent must pack everything they own. Tomorrow evening every child will be taken into care." Zara's face was red. It was obvious that she was desperately holding back tears. Finally she looked up for the first time since she's begun talking to look at the sea of bewildered, lost faces in front of her.

"I love all of you. But the government have decreed that no trace of CHERUB can remain. WE can't keep you one campus any more, and there's no more funding to set up specialized care homes for you all. I hate to do this to you my agents. CHERUB was compromised and the government are destroying any trace of it before the media find out. They don't want to risk the next _election_. I love all of you. I hate to do this to you my agents. I'm sorry." With that Zara's voice cracked and she rushed from the canteen.

Just stunned silence. Nothing more

Lauren grabbed James hand as if she was terrified that someone would separate her from him right now. Then a tiny red shirt let out a wail and pandemonium broke out. Kelly's face was pale as her whole world disappeared. Bruce was completely blank. Gabrielle, Connor, Callum, Shak**,** everyone. How could James never see the friends that were his family ever again?

Jessica. It was all her.

On cue she suddenly materialized behind James, "that shouldn't have happened," she murmured in a whisper.

Before he knew it, James's hand had cracked across her face and she fell to the floor. "It's all your fault you fucking- -," James couldn't think of a word that could possibly express the turmoil inside him. Instead he stamped on her foot, grinding down on it. He hadn't lost control like this for years. He was enjoying it very much.

She didn't even flinch, her face was furious as she glared shruikans at James. She pulled away from him difficulty. Her eye was already puffing up and she leaned only on her right leg. Jessica's face suddenly screwed up as if she wanted desperately to say something. Maybe it was a pathetic apology for destroying the lives of hundreds of children. But her face blanked instead.

Instead she turned away from him, the crowd made a space for her to leave. The animosity was everywhere, shooting at her from everyone.

Jessica limped away from them silently. The double doors slammed against the walls with enough force to shake the hinges. They slammed shut behind her except for left one which stayed open slightly. James turned his back on them. There were more important things to do.

**Apolagies for any typos i just wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible. **

**xxbluehyperpixiexx  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**So next chap... sorry it took a while to update. But it's here now so-yeah. let me know what you guys think 'kay.**

**DISCLAIMER-...that's as much as I am going to say. I CAN'T BARE ANYMORE!!!  
**

"What the hell?" James mumbled. The page sat on his desk, polite as anything. No mention of the fact that when he'd gone to sleep with his bloody door locked, it hadn't been there.  
_  
A phoenix caught James eye. The flames around it weaved in and out of each other intricately and James was forced to peer at it closely to see where each bit of fire ended.  
_  
How was the page here? James hadn't seen Jessica since that time in the canteen. Now, two weeks later, her art was sitting on table.

Bang.

"James open up it's me," Lauren's voice called from behind James locked door. Without thinking James snatched the sheet from the desktop and shoved it into the waste bin absentmindedly. Before the bang could come again James had the padlock open and Lauren in his room.

"You 'kay?" she asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

Lauren grabbed James' desk chair spun it round and straddled it in one swift movement. "You look like you've chucked back a whole load of speed."

"I just hate this place. It's a craphouse man." James face fell, hit rock bottom. "I miss how things were, before."

Lauren sighed and leaned forward on her chair, "We're meeting Bruce, Shak and Kerry and the others this weekend." Her voice was gentle. Since they'd been forced into this care home on the outskirts of Ealing, Lauren had been growing quieter and quieter. Eventually she'd probably stop speaking altogether.

"But it's not enough," James growled, "This never should have happened." Unlike Lauren James had been getting louder and louder, no such thing as a whisper or bottling things up these days.

Then Lauren's chair fell forward and she landed face first on the floor.

_Shit_. James ran to her. There were no tears, no sound or exclamation. Lauren just stared at the blood that was rushing from her nose like it was an alien entity. James grabbed a shirt from the floor and tried to shove it at her nose. But Lauren pushed him away and continued to just stare at her bloody hand, fascinated.

Damn she's lost it. He thought with a mental sigh.

Suddenly, Lauren lurched from her heap on the floor and grabbed a crinkled paper from James overflowing waste bin. "What is this," her voice was muffled through the slowing blood flow but still easy to understand.

In her hand was the phoenix picture.

"Scrap paper," James shrugged blithely and plucked it from her hand. "We should get your nose checked."

Lauren turned to him even after he'd shoved her through the doorway. Her piercing look made him want to squirm. When had that started? "You and I both know my nose isn't broken. Just like we both know that this place is going to destroy us. I can't handle this for much longer James. You have to do something bro'." She shut James' door slowly behind her.

--

James spun the tire swing even faster even though Kerry was screaming at him to stop. Her face was green!

"Please, James. Stop. Argh-I'm gonna puke," she wailed. Too fast for James to realize, once it was too late, she'd stuck her leg out and on its  
way round it kicked him hard.

But the grin was still plastered to his face as he backed away and Kerry slowed herself to a stop. Unsteadily, looking awfully drunk she swaggered over to him.

Squinting vaguely over James' shoulder, she screamed, "James you retarded, stupud, fweakish, idot!!" She was slurring like no one's business.

"I lub you too Kewwy!" James laughed at her. He shoved her hard onto her arse.

Kerry stayed on the floor. "I'm so dwunk."

Suddenly Bruce burst into the little bubble they'd made. "You really are Kerry. C'mon you need to eat something." He lifted her up easily. Mumbling rather strangely about pixies Kerry flopped her head on Bruce's shoulder and peaked blearily from it.

"I'm so dwunk I can see my arch-nemesis looking at me. Go'way." Kerry was still mumbling but like it always is in the world, there was complete silence and Kerry's voice was the only thing heard. Together, as one entity, one clan, one family, Kerry, Bruce, Lauren, Connor, Callum, Bethany, Gabrielle and James all whirled to a figure sitting cross-legged on the field  
surrounding the park.

She sensed their gaze.

She pushed herself up, stumbling slightly and loped over to the park. Vaulting the fence easily she walked until she was only meters in front of James, looking at him defiantly.

Jessica.

**I NEED THE HELP POEPLE. HELP ME. REVIEW**

**xxbluehyperpixiexx  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey my darlings, sorry I took so long to update. All I have to say is that GCSE exams are drafts of my suicide note. LOL kidding poeple. Can't go without finishing the story right?**

**Chapter dedicated to all the poeple who bothered to review, LuvinDrewFuller and Taylor Swift who are keeping me alive through half term!**

**DISCLAIMER: ...  
**

**Chapter 5  
**

"Um...hey." The last part was a question.

But the reply was silence. From all directions evils were glared at her and hostile bodies surrounded her. For a second James was surprised at the unveiled loathing on Lauren's face. It was restrained but the very "it was restrained" was what made it so disturbing.

But his focus was back on "Jessica". Warily, her eyes swept the group as far as she could go without having to physically move. When green brown eyes landed on Connor and Callum both glowering fiercely at her, she calmly moved on. Lauren bristled.

"I have a plan," she eventually stated.

James replied quickly, "does it involve a 1000 foot drop from the top of a cliff without a safety harness? Because I have the perfect volunteer."

"Jessica" didn't take offense, "Not quite. It involves a list of anyone ever kicked out of CHERUB. It involves shutting them up for good. Top on the list is Nicole Eddison."

"Hur." James didn't get it.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Do you not know how I found out about CHERUB?"

"Nicole told you," came the low quiet reply from Callum.

"Jessica" didn't look at him. Expression blanking suddenly, she instead gazed slightly over his shoulder.

"I'm not getting involved. I know you Suzannah. I don't-."

"My name is JESSICA," she hissed at him, finally looking him dead in the eye.

Callum just Looked at her. Eventually, as the tension almost stabbed one of them Callum said. "No matter what your name is, no matter how hard you try to hide it or fight it, you will always be Suzannah. That vicious, violent and venomous little girl you always were." With each V he forced his face closer to her until they were almost nose to nose. "Don't forget that...Jessica."

Her face still stiff she moved away from him rigidly. From her back pocket she pulled out a crumpled paper. She opened it so they could see a list of names. But the illegible scrawl it was in prevented them from reading it. "This is a list of everyone kicked out of CHERUB in the last 5 years. There is a possibility that they have loose tongues like our druggie friend Nicole. I have my own reasons for wanting to keep CHERUB alive. I'm going to make sure every person on the list learns to keep a secret; I'm going to do whatever it takes. I might need a little help even. Anyone who wants to tag along can.

"Later," she turned away from them, stringing them along. She left the offer hanging there, ready for one of them to just reach out and grab it.

...

Jessica pushed the gate open.

"I'm in."

Slowly, savouring the answer, Jessica turned to face to group. Bruce faced Jessica down.

"Cool," she answered. "Hate to be nosy but I'm a curious person. Why?" Bruce just nodded in Kerry's direction. "She's been drunk straight for the past week. To be honest no CHERUBs been a relief in some ways, but Kerry can't handle it"

James mouth spoke without consulting his brain. "I'm in."

"Why?"

This time his brain and mouth discussed beforehand. "None of your fucking business." They hadn't discussed very much.

As soon as James answered, Lauren stood at his side. She didn't say anything but he could feel her solidarity. They would _not_ be splitting up.

"So how do we rock this shit?" Bethany gave the nail a headache.

Jessica sat her arse onto the park fence and crossed her legs twice; she was revelling in the attention. "Rest assured what's left of CHERUB will be watching us. My guess is they get regular reports on how we're doing. So, and this is the fun bit,"

"_We'll stgemsbrkt_" was all Kelly heard.

She was still leaning on Bruce pathetically, "Arch nemesis say wa'?"

Jessica rolled her eyes at Kerry, didn't bother looking at her when she replied. Instead she grabbed her trainer with the foot still in it, not decapitated unfortunately, and examined it for scuff marks. It didn't take particularly long to reiterate the plan.

Then Lauren sat down on the fence next to Jessica and smiled up into her face. "You've really thought about this haven't you?"

Jessica backed away slightly, not fearfully though, irritated. "Your point."

SLAM.

Jessica jerked her foot away with seconds to spare. "Once again, your point?"

"I hate you. By the way I missed on purpose, we can't have you handicapped. Next time I won't miss."

Jessica looked blankly at Lauren, "Piss me off again and I'll kill you."

Lauren was suddenly featureless. Jessica really was fucking psycho. James grabbed his sister and pulled her away from it. "Shove it up yours."

"You wish darling James. See you guys in 3"

**xxbluehyperpixiexx**

**you guys know the drill! I know it wasn't brilliant but it's your ideas that improve it! Thank you.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Apologies! But GCSEs are over now and I have a month before I go away. So I should be updating much more regularly. (Your reviews will definately be spurring em on!!)**

**DISCLAIMER : Me no ownie!**

"Get away from her. Now." James's voice was dangerous, his anger barely contained. With his fists clenched and his body in an almost feral crouch he made a crap inducing sight. "I said get _away_ from her."

"James stay out of this," Lauren demanded, the adrenaline rushing through her body made her twitchy and restless. "He's begging for it."

Amidst all this the boy in question looked relaxed. The splif hung from between his lips in what he probably considered a devil may care look but all it did was make the rest of his face look lopsided. Skilfully talking around it he asked, "Get your mouthy sister out of here before I smash her pretty little face in. You never know when she might change her mind about me and her getting together." He grinned, relaxed against the kitchen worktop. It seemed as though the tension would trickle away, emphasis: _seem_.

He suddenly leapt away from the side and grabbed at Lauren who was dragged out of the way, with millimetres to spare, by James. James followed his half turn through and slammed the tip of his steel toed boots into the boy's bottom rib. The crowd that had already been gathering contracted and eyed the fight hungrily as a crack resounded and the boy buckled to the floor.

Lauren stood over him. Sarcastically, though it was hard to tell with her rough voice she said, "Touch me again, I beg you." James stood close to her eyeing the crowd menacingly in a half crouch. "Please I need you," her voice was becoming increasingly hysterical in its mockery. Alerted to Lauren's increasing pitch, something to do with his eardrum getting very close to more permanent damage than usual, James grabbed her arm and began to steer her away from the scene of the battered boy, the sobbing and cursing battered boy. But Lauren had already reached her breaking point as James had feared she would. Bodily contact had just pushed her over.

Before James could process the situation he was already on the floor clutching his jaw and blinking stars out of his eyes and Lauren was proceeding to dislocate the toes of her original attacker by ripping off his shoes and socks, then physically pulling the joints out of their sockets. Such systematic brutality from anyone would have been disturbing on its own but from his own sister?! However James wasn't quite together enough to do anything, he was busy holding his jaw to his face. The carer who was supposed to be taking care of them finally seemed to realise that the crowd of children in the TVless kitchen weren't there to watch the football and attempted to drag Lauren away from her-...victim. Lauren turned on her and knocked her out with one blow. That broke the spell on the rest of the children and screams rose as well as the room of the care home. Suddenly chairs were being thrown around, wallpaper being torn down, beds were broken and most importantly of all, children began to run from the care home as far as their legs could carry them.

James grabbed Lauren round the waist and anchored her where she was as the rush of children squeezed out of the door to descend on the rest of the house like locusts. Eventually all that was left was the thankfully, for him, unconscious boy. Not even the social worker was left in the room having been carried away at some point in the tide of children.

"You alright? James tried not to let his momentary aversion to Lauren show in his face. Her face was blank though, she didn't even seem to be _present_, like in her own body.

Seeing as they'd caused the mass breakout of kids they were supposed to twenty minutes early, James led Lauren upstairs to triple-check their belongings again.

--

It was as they were waiting at the bus stop, bulging packs over their backs that Lauren finally spoke. "James we can't get the bus. They all have CCTV cameras now and if we take a train they'll see us at the station we got on and off."

James immediately headed away from the bus stop. "Give me your bag and cover your face with your hair. Look small."

For once Lauren didn't ask questions and just did what she was told. Miracle.

"Do you have a hat and glasses in your bag?"

"'Course! What's the plan?" It couldn't have lasted long. She rummaged through the outer pocket of her bag hurriedly and rose with them already in place. James had already hung a chequered scarf loosely around his neck so it covered his chin and lips as well and tried to pull as much of his hair across his face as possible. Voila messy emo, gracing London Fashion week soon.

"We're taking the train. Just try and make sure no one can see our faces. Put your headphones in and turn the volume up high, pretend to be absorbed in it, that'll give you an excuse to keep your head down."

Do you reckon the others have escaped yet?" James worried slightly.

"We've escaped that's all that matters. Let the others take care of themselves." Lauren strode ahead of James. He just mimed strangling her roughly and soon caught up to her.

--

James felt his heart dissolve as he walked. _Shit no one's here. Are we the only ones?_

"God; where the hell are the others?" They'd easily seen the tree Jessica had described. Its branches twined together to form a face and a body if you looked at it long enough. It was eerie. And damn it was wearing a very unrevealing dress. "They'd better not have screwed up."

"Lauren," James shoved her hard in the back before spinning her around to stare her down. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"A lot of things James. One of them is having you bugging me constantly. So just leave me alone okay!" Lauren sniffed suddenly and turned her back to him. James didn't bother waiting for her and just walked past her towards the tree. Suddenly he felt her winding her arm through his tenderly, hesitantly. He only toyed with the idea of shrugging her off; the gesture was just too innocent to reject. Lauren definitely had something munching on her. He'd have to bother her later though; he had something more immediate to worry about.

That something being a Jessica the Cheshire cat smirking from at them from within the branches of the tree. Alone.

**I'm sorry the flow isn't amazing I didn't write this all in one go and it really shows. No here's your homework. I want your predictions. What do you think will happen in the next couple of chapters?**

**Review!!**

**xxbluehyperpixiexx**


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